Fireworks
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: The ISA fleet had arrived at Helghan. They might dominate the skies, but the land belonged to the helghast.


**Fireworks**

"Why don't they just blast us from space?"

Josef looked at him. "What?"

"Why don't they blast us from space?" Franz repeated, looking at his fellow soldier. "You know how orbital mechanics work. Get an asteroid or something, make it go fast enough, slam it into Helghan, poof." He made a motion with his hands to emphasize the point. "I mean, it worked sixty-five million years ago on Earth from what I've read."

"The hell you reading up on Earth for?"

She shrugged. "Makes sense to know your enemy."

"Then just know that the reason the ISA hasn't done that is that they want the planet. They drop an asteroid on Helghan, they're going to be dealing with years of hell before they exploit it."

"Exploited us once before. Didn't need an asteroid that time."

"No, but they had superior firepower. Now…" Josef was wearing a mask like all the platoon, but Franz could imagine the smile behind it. "Well, see for yourself."

Franz could see. He'd been seeing the same thing for the last hour. An hour that felt like an extension of the past week.

One week. That was how long he and the platoon had been stationed here at the Corinth River, within spitting distance of the capital of Pyrrhus. One week of fighting boredom and fear – boredom from the inability to actually do anything, fear from knowing that they might still be able to do nothing once the ISA fleet arrived. It was a week that had followed eight weeks' worth of training, which had begun when he and every other man his age in the capital had been drafted to defend the planet against the coming invasion. Eight weeks of training before being assigned to the Helghan 12th Army. And now, after those eight weeks, after that one week, he and every other trooper along the line of trenches, foxholes, and barbed wire could see the same thing.

"Fireworks," Franz murmured.

"The hell you on about now?"

He pointed upwards to the sky, to the light show going on in it. "Reminds me of fireworks."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." He sighed, thinking of better times. "Fifth anniversary of Visari becoming autarch. Put on a show in every city on this continent."

"I remember," Josef murmured.

Franz continued to watch the 'fireworks.' Up in the clouds were numerous flashes of light – the results of the ISA cruisers being hidden behind the thick, dust-filled clouds of Helghan. Up in the troposphere, far removed from most AA defences. They were firing down at the planet. In response, bolts of lightning shot up into the heavens – arc towers, they were called. Franz didn't know how they worked, or who had designed them, but he was a grunt, and didn't need to know those things. All he knew was that where the Helghan Fleet had failed, being knocked out of vacuum in a matter of minutes, the arc towers were succeeding. The ISA dominated the skies, but they couldn't dominate the land. So what followed was a game of ping pong, only instead of a single ball, both sides were lobbing numerous balls at each other, and neither able to see who was winning.

Or if they could tell, Franz wasn't privy to that information. He looked at Josef. "How long do you think this'll go on?"

"Sorry?" There was a loud 'boom.'

"I said, how long do you think this'll go on?" He gestured up to the sky. "The fireworks."

"Dunno."

"Take a guess."

"I'm a trooper. I'm not meant to guess."

"Come on, you're a corporal, I'm a private. Think you're allowed some guessing."

Josef sighed. "Okay Franz, you want me to take a guess?"

"That's why I asked."

"My guess is that this is only the beginning. Because the ISA are imperialist pigs, but pigs are smart, and they've started to realized that they can't bring their cruisers any further down without being shot out of the sky."

"So that's good, right?"

"Good for now. But that doesn't stop them from deploying ground forces. And since they want to rape this planet like they did generations ago, they'll have lots of little pigs to soil us with. So when the little pigs land, they're going to hit places like us hard."

"Really?"

"Well, they might go straight to Pyrrhus itself, but they'll need heavy armour. And if they want armour, they need an LZ." He gestured out to the wastelands. "Where better than a place like this?"

Not that Josef could see it, but Franz turned pale. Well, more pale than usual. And maybe he could see it, because he reached over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Cheer up," he said. "Isn't that bad."

"It isn't?"

"No. Because this is only the first ISA wave. When the next one comes, then things will get interesting."

Interesting. That was one word for it, Franz reflected. Just like how it was "interesting" that they were in this situation at all. Few years ago, he recalled the promise that Vekta would be theirs again. That they'd have a clean, swift victory, and be in a position to negotiate with Earth since they'd cut the imperialist dogs off from their bread basket. It was "interesting" how none of that had happened, that despite the brave sacrifices of the Third Army, the dogs of war were now at their gates. Dogs that were still firing on them.

"Heads down!"

Heads down meant his whole body. He ducked down in the trench, as did Josef, as did Siegfried, as did everyone else. Missiles detonated around their position. Dust went up into the air. Judging from the screams further down the line, so did some blood.

"Fucking pigs!" Josef screamed.

Hans popped his head up. He wiped the dust that had accumulated on his mask's goggles. He was shaking, even as he looked up to the sky, where he could see a faint outline of a cruiser. It was lower than the others – low enough that he could actually see its bow protruding from the clouds. Like a Tower of Babel, it stood there, seeking to disperse the people of Helghan to the four winds. It hovered there, mocking him…right up to the point where it exploded.

_Holy shit._

Cheers erupted from the line. Franz didn't join them, if only because his heart was in his throat. A bolt of lightning had hit the ship. The dog had poked its nose through the gate, and had been savaged for it. The arc tower had hit its target, and now parts of the target were falling to the ground.

"Well I'll be – they do bleed." Josef thumped Franz on the shoulder. "Fireworks, eh? Just like you wanted."

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"Would have preferred not to be in this situation at all."

Josef gave him a look. Granted, his eyes were hidden behind a mask, but Franz could imagine it. It was the look that people gave when they dared to question the will of the autarch. It was the look that could lead to lots of other looks before someone was dragged out of their house and shot.

"On your feet soldiers!"

If being executed had a look, he didn't know what it was. He'd seen such executions, but had always looked away when the trigger was pulled. What the look was on the traitor's face, or that of the executioner, he couldn't say.

"I said on your feet!"

He could look at fireworks though. Least the death there happened from a distance.

"Trooper, what part of on your feet did you not understand?!"

Franz got up as Sergeant Haedrig walked down the line. "Nothing sir. Of course sir."

"Don't sir me you reprobate."

"Of course not sergeant."

The NCO grunted. Franz glanced at Josef, who again, gave him "the look."

"Glad to hear you cheering," Haedrig said, addressing the platoon. "Great that you all think that one downed cruiser means that the war's over."

Franz didn't think anyone actually thought that, but eight weeks of drills had emphasized that privates didn't disagree with their commanders.

"But command has given the company orders to move out. We're going to get to that cruiser, deal with any survivours, and salvage what they can. The imperialists want to steal what's ours? Well, we're going to steal what's theirs."

"Never theirs in the first place," someone called out.

"Never theirs!"

"Never theirs!"

The mantra repeated over and over. Never theirs. A rallying cry when Visari had pushed the people of Helghan to take Vekta. Or _retake _it, as he pointed out.

"Never theirs," Haedrig said. "Quite right. And we're moving out in five to remind them of that."

Cheers echoed down the line. Franz looked as Josef. "Won't the ISA send a rescue team?"

"Probably."

"And?"

"And we'll kill whatever dogs come to suck the teat of the bitch we killed." He slung his rifle over his shoulder. "Now come on. You're a private, and I look out for my privates."

"Could have phrased that better you know."

"I could. Now follow me."

Franz knew the way to the APCs. Sparing a glance up to the sky, he could see the fireworks continuing. Shifting his glance to the surface of Helghan, he could see the cruiser burning. It would never fly again. But that wasn't to say that no-one was still alive. How many dogs there were to put out of their misery. How many times he and his fellow troopers would have to do this before this was all over.

"Here's to that then," he whispered, before following Josef to the APC.

There'd be plenty of fireworks before this was all over.


End file.
